Malus

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Malus (apples, crabs; family Rosaceae) A genus of usually thorny (in wild forms) deciduous trees in which the leaves are simple and the flowers, in umbel-like clusters, are regular with 5 sepals, 5 petals, numerous stamens, and 3–5 carpels which are fused completely with each other and to the receptacle cup. In the fruit (a pome) the receptacle swells to form the flesh of the apple, enclosing the cartilaginous carpel walls. Each carpel contains 2 seeds (pips). In various cultivars they are much grown for their fruit, or for ornament. There are some 25 species, native to the northern temperate zone.

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